YEARENDER: Gaza conflict was painful during 2007

Dec 24, 2007, 5:06 GMT

Gaza City - Like most Gaza residents, Taysser Ahmed, 48, sees Hamas' takeover of the impoverished Gaza Strip in June as the most significant event of 2007.

And like most, he will remember 2007 as the year problems multiplied to the point where, even by Palestinian standards, hardships became more painful than in the years before Hamas seized control.

One week in mid-June, tensions between Hamas and the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, simmering since the former defeated the latter in the 2006 elections, boiled over.

By June 14, after five days of savage fighting, Hamas had routed Fatah forces and was the authority in Gaza.

But the consequences were heavy. Israel sealed off all border crossing points, and left 1.5 million Gazans to decide whether they preferred Hamas rule, or whether they would one day rise against the Islamist organization.

'Since 2006, an international economic boycott has been imposed after Hamas won the elections, but things have been worse since Hamas tood control of Gaza and this situation plunged many Palestinians here into poverty,' says Taysser, a father of ten children, one of whom - Aleiwa - suffers from kidney problems.

Sixteen-year-old Aleiwa requires medication. But for a jobless Palestinian in an area where medicines are in short supply, it is not easy for Taysser. Aleiwa's life is in danger 24 hours a day.

'I have no money to buy medication for him. I owe the pharmacist a lot of money,' Taysser says sadly.

He said the internecine violence between Hamas and Fatah, a feature of life in the Strip for months before the takeover, had made things extremely difficult.

'The fight continued for long months. Many were killed, and in addition, the economy of the Strip is on the verge of collapse because of the Israel closure.'

Gaza's economy indeed has largely collapsed, prices have skyrocketed dramatically, access to and from the territory is tightly controlled, and the majority of the population lives below the poverty line.

'I admit things were very difficult before the Hamas takeover of Gaza, but now it's worse and of course this dire situation is weakening support for Hamas,' says Taysser, who says he does not support any Palestinian faction.

But Hamas, an extension of the Moslem Brotherhood movement, is undismayed by its perceived falling support. Movement leaders have openly announced their intention to stage a takeover of the West Bank, should Israel pull out.

Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar has said Gaza is an example of an Islamic state which could be the model for other such states set up by the Moslem Brotherhood elsewhere in the Arab world.

But the Hamas takeover Gaza did not just complicate life in the Strip. Abbas reacted by dismissing the Hamas-led unity government, and appointing a new administration, as yet unratified and with authority only in the West Bank, to serve as the Palestinian government.

The result of the political divorce was the lifting of economic sanctions in the West Bank, imposed after Hamas formed a government and refused demands to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Assad Abu Sharkh, a political analyst, thinks Hamas has also failed to impose law and order in the Strip.

'There were some signs of security, but there are also clashes between Hamas and strong clans affiliated with Fatah, as well as the persecution of Fatah supporters in Gaza,' he says.

'Now there is a prosperous West Bank and an economically impoverished Gaza Strip,' says Taysser. 'Abbas refuses to resume dialogue with Hamas but he launches negotiations with Israel and the residents of the Gaza Strip are the victims.'

The Palestinian leader has refused to deal with Hamas until it reverses what he and his aides call its 'coup' in the Strip. In the meantime, the ouster of Hamas from the Palestinian government has given a new fillip to the peace process.

But at a severe cost to Gazans.

'I want (Hamas and Fatah) to sit together and create a new coalition to serve the interests of the Palestinians, not to fight each other,' says Taysser.

'I hope the next year will be the year of true unity and the year that will witness the birth of our state,' he adds. But he does not look convinced.